President Donald Trump has long embraced blurring the line between spectacle and reality, hence the brutal backlash over his DoorDash stunt to gain votes.
He has even lined up a UFC-style cage setup for his 80th birthday, drawing criticism from those who don’t want to see it.
But critics are now raising more uncomfortable questions. The public doubts how Trump approaches real-world moments, and whether he understands the difference between what’s real and staged.
Decades later, that same interest was back on display when Trump showed up at a UFC event just last week alongside Dana White. That fascination carried into his “Battle of the Billionaires” 2007 face-off at WrestleMania 23 with then-WWE CEO Vince McMahon.
A new report claims Trump took a brutal beatdown he saw during childhood at face value.
In a New Yorker profile, Zach Helfand wrote about Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a former WWE executive. The piece included a quote from a retired multi-time world champion that portrayed Trump as naive and easily misled.
“When Donald Trump was a kid, his favorite wrestler was Antonino Rocca, though Trump called him Rocky Antonino, and when classmates tried to correct him, he insisted that he was right,” Helfand wrote.
He continued, “The wrestler Bret Hart remembered Trump almost falling out of his chair when Hart appeared to crack his face on a metal turnbuckle. ‘He believed it,’ Hart told me. ‘He couldn’t believe I didn’t get killed.’”
Trump apparently being confused that pro wrestling is clearly a staged athletic performance generated real heat online. For some social media users, the president’s reaction raised eyebrows.
Never forget when Donald Trump took down Vince McMahon in the WWE (2007) pic.twitter.com/43hXO1h1PV
— Kindness and knowledge (@Ezekle1) April 1, 2026
“Well, there you have it. His peabrain isn’t fully formed. That explains a lot of his tantrums and not understanding basic things,” one Threads user declared.
A second commenter posted, “When I was a kid, I thought wrestling was real, too… then I learned it was scripted entertainment… maybe Donnie will figure it out someday.”
“Pop pop loves his stories,” joked a poster, making fun of the nearly 80-year-old. Meanwhile, a skeptic added, “This can’t be real, no one is that dumb.”
Another person pointed out, “Trump thought this burning limo with Vince McMahon inside was real. Basically, anytime Vince was hurt on screen (which was frequently), DJT thought it was real and would reach out to the McMahons.”
That claim may sound exaggerated. But another WWE member said Trump was genuinely concerned about a scene in a 2007 episode of WWE “Monday Night Raw.” In the scene, Vince McMahon entered a limousine that exploded.
“He’d probably be mad at me for saying it, but Trump called and was like, ‘Did something happen to Vince?’” said wrestler Paul “Triple H” Levesque on the “Opie and Anthony” radio show.
Levesque, 56, rose as a main event star during wrestling’s Attitude Era in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The hosts laughed when he admitted that Trump thought Vince was seriously hurt in a pre-taped limo explosion.
Asked if Trump knew it wasn’t real, Triple H replied, “That’s the magic of television.”
When asked if Trump did not understand that the limo blowing up was not real, Triple H had to explain, “That’s the magic of television.” That now-famous moment from “RAW” aired during the same period as the Trump-hosted “The Apprentice” reality show.
Vince McMahon’s limo exploding 😭😭 https://t.co/dU9zTIDjrt pic.twitter.com/Si08PlMHYj
— Wrestling Uncovered (@wrestlinuncover) April 11, 2023
The Trumps and the McMahons have a long, interconnected history. Atlantic City’s Trump Plaza hotel and casino sponsored WrestleMania IV in 1988 and WrestleMania V in 1989. Vince later inducted Trump into the Celebrity Wing of the 2013 WWE Hall of Fame class.
Linda, 77, led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019. She now leads the Department of Education.
In June 2025, Trump appointed Levesque to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. Triple H and Stephanie, 49, later joined her for a White House photo op that September.
Critics say Trump’s reaction to WWE storylines fuels speculation that he can be easily misled, raising concerns among some Americans.
